Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CRITIC AND POET, by EMMA LAZARUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CRITIC AND POET, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: No man had ever heard a nightingale
Last Line: Were it a bird, 'twould answer to my law.
Subject(s): Birds; Critics & Criticism; Poetry & Poets


No man had ever heard a nightingale,
When once a keen-eyed naturalist was stirred
To study and define -- what is a bird,
To classify by rote and book, nor fail
To mark its structure and to note the scale
Whereon its song might possibly be heard.
Thus far, no farther; -- so he spake the word.
When of a sudden, -- hark, the nightingale!

Oh deeper, higher than he could divine
That all-unearthly, untaught strain! He saw
The plain, brown warbler, unabashed. "Not mine"
(He cried) "the error of this fatal flaw.
No bird is this, it soars beyond my line,
Were it a bird, 'twould answer to my law.





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